Aquarium- An Aquatic Life - Ocean’s Weird and Wonderful Creatures

Previously on an Aquatic Life The purpose of the aquarium really is to Inspire people to realize that we all have an impact on this ocean that we don't always see The microorganisms are what make the bigger picture there's so much happening in the background that forms an essential part of the aquarium and Artemia and rotif is where you start It's incredible to think that the little hatchlings that we get in our upstairs in the reputation center that are 16 grams the smallest one That's come in will eventually End up looking like that and be that size Lots of new arrivals at the aquarium today. This is not from as far away as Japan Just I'm impressed that I got all females There's a handful of people who get to handle spider crabs on any one day today. It was us That's a really awesome feeling to go to bed with I've noticed some strange bubbles on the lining of the kelp forest That was the start of the realization that the waterproof lining in all our tanks was failing So it's a lot of thinking and a lot of drilling just a little bit. I Think the real excitement will be by season We plan on having a new shark exhibit open the kelp forest repaired and the new iron And then we can really kind of sit back let's say and then and really enjoy it a New day breaks on Cape Town's foreshore at the Victoria and Alfred waterfront the cold Atlantic waters already beginning to stir Joining the morning hustle is Vince one of the veterans of the two oceans aquarium I've been you know, the longest at the aquarium now the 23 years and it's been fun I've learned so much and I've had so many lovely times Imagine being able to come out here every morning Every day, it's a different day. The colors in the harbor is different the Egyptian geese Screaming at me as I go past the seagulls often scream at me as well because I pick up their youngsters when they floundering in The water I think they probably recognize me as a threat to the to the babies, but I'm trying to help you know So I go out every morning to go and look for seal entanglements the seals unfortunately in this area get box bands and fishing line and raffia cord I've even had pieces of clothing on them They like to play with us, but it washes down the stormwater drains from the city The boundary where men and nature meet is always a place of compromise on his daily rounds Vince tries to ensure the impact we have on the naturally existing creatures here is minimal I've got a few areas that I check where I know the seals fall out and this is one of them Yeah, I call it the Cape Grace area and there's a seal lying over there I'm gonna see who these are if there's anything on their neck So the seals that don't have anything on their necks normally are pretty rustic Quite the ones that have something on their neck normally try and run away and jump off as soon as they come they Look fine. I won't go and disturb them having a nice rest So this this area will just go slowly This area is normally full of seals at times and they lie all over the boats people's boats and they get quite cross There's one of the old chaps that I've known for a long time I've actually had a look in that you see he's got a scar on his neck there and I've actually had a look in there once we caught him he was very cross about it and There was nothing there, but it's an old scar from before Okay, and if you look at the yeah on this poor guys But look at the brown that's like a permanent stain from the seals fur They're very oily fur and then yeah some hair coming off. This one was molting He's probably either started or just about finished. There's not a lot normally. It's a hell of a lot of hair Sometimes the whole place is full bits of chaka or calamari They vomit them out and then sometimes when they do Defecate it's just chaka ink and it lies on the jetty or on the boat on this lovely white boat So the waterfront Guys that look after all the jetties they come through and clean up every morning so yeah as a Innovation by one of the boat owners as far as I know they put the sprinklers on at night time It's a pump in the from the sea, so it's not fresh water It's just pumping out the harbor And if you see there isn't any any seals in this area where there there was one but there on some days it could be 20 or 40 sometimes and Then if you look at this boat The guys put a fence around the stern of the deck there and the seals will look at that and think is it worth Jumping over that they've tried putting blow-up people you know inflatable thing But sometimes they see that they find the seals lying right next to them So yeah, it's it's got to be an ongoing long-term thing and the seals were Way before all of this Years and years ago It used to be very difficult to sail into table Bay because of all the whales and all the seals and all the other animals around So the seals have been here for for a long time so we need everybody needs to just live together with them You know with wildlife I? Don't consider myself a year. I mean I get well I've got my aquarium uniform which I'm actually very proud of even after 23 years I feel a lovely warm feeling when I saw work at the two oceans aquarium But it can be really hectic You wouldn't think so when you drive past that aquarium building. You wouldn't think it's so frantic inside there the magnificent yet fragile beauty of the ocean is nowhere more evident than in the fascinating forms of its most charming inhabitants Morning guys The nice new seahorse is a born performer with a flair for the dramatic this endemic residents of South Africa's coast is a national icon of Conservation and is the only seahorse in the world that flourishes in estuaries Known for their shyness these little creatures are in fact far more flirtatious than anyone would guess Hey Michelle, have we got some action yet? Not yet We've got some males who look like they're interested so we'll never know let's all thumbs Yeah, I think the girls are hoping to catch some males standing still for long enough so they can implant their eggs in there though How's the temperature? At the moment it's 22 degrees this temperature of course is the queue So we say when the seahorses get the hot they get hot so we need Slightly warmer water and they're in this tank because we need the height they do this beautiful little courtship dance they start at the bottom and they pull their little heads and it's Really quite something to watch and then they do this dance all the way to the top where egg transfer takes place So we are hoping to get some little babies and that's exactly why they in the lab What's special about our seahorses is that We got seahorses from the Eisner 23 years ago, and we've never ever had to restock from the wild So we've got a breeding population We've shared with other facilities and that's really nice because of course the seahorses are very endangered mainly because of habitat degradation But they're really sensitive little little creatures, I mean something that I suppose most people don't know is they don't even have stomachs They've just got a gut So we need to feed them all day every day. They graze. I suppose a bit like us The aquarium staff work as a tight-knit team People from different walks of life with a shared drive for ocean conservation Part of the responsibilities of the aquarium is to make sure that our animals get a very good diet So myself and Talitha prepare the food for most of the animals as well so I'll make all the smoothies and Anything else the corals or the anemones in the coral tank and the jellies might require and Talitha will make all the things for the turtles and stuff like that Generally in the smoothie we have some mycid shrimp Which is a local shrimp species that's found in the hub outside I add some fish flakes to fill in the gaps in the diet as well And we add some prawn and my haecro. Haecro is very important because it's very nutritious because the gonads of the fish So it's basically all the eggs and and sperm and things the fish would use to reproduce So these are krill and there's hundreds of them or thousands of them compressed here Each little black dot is actually the krill's eye and even though they're so super tiny most of the bigger animals in the ocean like The whales actually eat it and they gain a lot of weight before they go back on the immigration to have the new calves so to say This is a piece of haec itself So I just deboned it now and I like using haec because there's less bones in it Jellies can't digest calcium carbonate and they can't eject it It generally stays inside of the jellyfish's bowel and it rots away and it causes something we call bowel rot And bowel rot makes and burns holes inside the jellyfish itself, and that's not very good for animals So I'm gonna add a bit of seawater now And then I'll make a concentrated mush and then after that I will add more seawater and just water it down a bit So it's easier for us to feed it through the turkey base that we use The seawater is straight from the ocean and so we filtered it So we don't add anything weird when we're making smoothies or to our exhibits themselves Just blend this up. And so now it's just oops cleaning up And now cleaning up is important. I'm the eldest. I have to set an example to my siblings after all Seahorses somehow are the coolest animals in this aquarium. They're mystical, they're weird They're strange and the baby seahorses look exactly like the adults just miniatures and that's what's so nice to display And then of course the girls put the eggs into the boys pouch The males get really grumpy when they're carrying the babies. Pregnant men are worse than pregnant women They actually get really sulky like after about three days. They just Sulky and it's almost as if you can see their facial expressions like get out already No I actually think they're upset because the girls get super excited because they just move on to the next one so much for that theory Pairing up for life. Not in seahorse world. There's an empty pouch. There's a lady willing to fill it with her eggs And when the babies are born they immediately latch on to whatever they can and then with the airflow at the back They usually catch a ride So it looks like they're on the super tube and then they go onto the thing and they go To the top and land back down at the bottom with the airflow I don't know if it's accuracy enrichment or seahorse enrichment, but both of us seem to enjoy it Well, the fascinating thing is if you start studying traditional Chinese medicine They said it's actually useful real ailments seahorses They believe can treat heart ailments and cholesterol of all things so very much use but in the last 10 to 20 years there's been a phenomenal Organization doing real conservation work for the fisheries because there are a lot of people who reliant on seahorse fisheries So they've developed sustainable projects in the wild, which is so nice to see we're not going to change that market That's been there for thousands of years, but we can change how it gets to the market and that's quite special on the aquarium roof a different kind of seahorse is coming to fruition a Former employee of the aquarium jack mantis is no stranger to its meandering passages and corridors Many many years ago. I was one of the first accuracy at the aquarium. We built the original two oceans and It's 20 something years later and the young lass who was a volunteer at the time Marika is now the curator of the establishment and she asked me if I'd come and do a mural for them because Since being here Become a graffiti artist and it's kind of become more of a profession It's been great as well. They've just given me free range to paint whatever I want which has been nice You know with aquariums a lot of the time. It's very The biggest the best the most outstanding animal gets the credits And there's always a picture of a shark and for me this mural is like I wanted to give credit to some of the ones that I really found Quite mind-blowing when I was you know when I was working here. I Think these sea dragons were they really are outstanding. They're the most bizarre ornamental lazy slow floating piece of you know breathtaking seaweed And the anglerfish and the octopus and there's a lot of animals that don't get the Hollywood cred that the dolphins and the whales and then the inside I kind of wanted to paint stuff that That took my breath away when I was involved in aquariums. Yeah, give the little guy credit for once This has kind of reminded me of how How incredible these animals can be? If Marika doesn't like what I'm doing well being an ex-aquarist and knowing the floor plans to this establishment I could probably be her worst nightmare But no, I know she'll love it It's nice to leave a little bit of what I became in my life back on my previous life two decades ago It's a great way to start your career as a youth. It gives you a sense of Having to look after something other than yourself, which I think is something you can carry on through most things in life Down in the heart of the aquarium, it's feeding time for some of its most curious and remarkable creatures Jellyfish are found in all the oceans of the world Having roamed the seas for over 500 million years. They're the oldest multi-organ animal on the planet Under the watchful eye of dedicated aquarists like Krish they grow and prosper just as they do in the wild These remarkable creatures lend an aspect of wonder to the waters They populate their ghostly presence adding an element of magic to the open sea These are our Benguela compass jellyfish We have three formally described kinds of this jellyfish on our coast And this is one of the biggest one and the one with the biggest distribution when they are fully grown They are about 80 centimeters of bell diameter So that's the umbrella size itself and then the tentacles and the otter arms the lips of the jellyfish Have been recorded to reach up to two meters so they get quite quite big So these jellyfish in the wild have a very very voracious diet. They eat other jellyfish They eat fish, they eat the fish's eggs. They eat the fish themselves. So we make sure that they get exactly what they need Besides them getting the smoothie during the day. They also get baby shrimp And rotifers itself. Every single time a jellyfish pulses it eats It pushes food through its tentacles to be stung and then the food goes on to its large surface area lips And that's how it rubs it into its mouth See how everything sticks on the lips over here? That's because there's different stinging cells that actually get different parts of the smoothie So some parts of the stinging cells are for fish, other parts of the stinging cells are for the crustaceans or the crabs And other parts of the stinging cells are for the fish eggs that we added into the smoothie itself We make sure that all the cells are fired so that the jelly can have the maximum nutrition that it requires Even though it seems like not all the food is busy sticking to the lips at the moment Remember the food stays within the water So every single time the jellyfish pulses it swirls the food back through its lips So sometime during the day the food that's still floating around will get back to the animal itself And we call these animals jelly vividus or jellyfish that eat other jellyfish So in order to make sure they get their full diet, we grow other jellyfish to feed and complete this jellyfish's diet in captivity No, two creatures are alike. Their personalities and behaviors are as unique as our own They are mysterious mascots for the elaborate world beneath the waves These are our longhorned cowfish. They actually do resemble cows not only just with their horns. They've got very pretty eyes Their whole body belies their ability to actually stay and swim in water They're like wrong shaped bananas or like a prickly pear that has no prickles in it anymore. They're weird Their fins look too small to propel them through the water and then every now and then they fan out their tail fin, which is beautiful They unfortunately don't live well with others But we can introduce fish into their exhibit, but not the other way around because they secrete a poison Which is deadly to any other fish that they live with So in this tank, you might actually spot the little blue grunter that's living in here We siphon most of the tanks every day just to do a general cleanup It's a bit of a vacuum of the sand and it picks up all the leftover food and anything else that may have settled on The sand just makes the tank look a bit neater. Also because we're in warm water The light reflects off the sand and it often builds up an algae onto the the sand which you want to clean as well There are some stupid fish that you do suck up The only ones I've ever sucked up before have been the little puffer fish because they bury themselves in the sand. It's Very easy to not see them because they're so well camouflaged and then you go to suddenly They puff themselves up and actually block the siphon before they go down the pipe Which is a good thing and a sad thing because you feel really bad afterwards This is my favorite jellyfish because they are so so so beautiful You can see how frilly the lips are and how long the tentacles are as well And even though it's pink at the moment as it grows older It will actually become deep dark maroon to burgundy color and we'll get these striking compass markings on them That's what I call compass jellyfish And this is actually one of the species that we thought was all different species But it was actually the same animal at different stages of its life cycle Benguela compass jellies are one of three jelly species found only on the southern African coast Where they can grow to over two meters long and gather in swarms of thousands Jellyfish themselves are animals that are group pre mesoderm Mesoderm is the tissue layer that makes or forms a brain. So because jellyfish don't have a mesoderm They don't have any means to form a brain They have similar organs to I but it's not really I it's called a repellent and the repellent is Situated within each leopard of the bow All this repellent tells the jellyfish is whether it's upside down or or if it's swimming the right way up But it also tells the jellyfish whether it's night or day so it's photoreceptive Each creature here brings with it its own perspective Upside-down jellyfish are topsy-turvy in the truest sense of the term Their brownish color comes from algae living inside their tissues by lying upside down The jellyfish exposes the algae to the light allowing it to photosynthesize and feed a toast By working with these remarkable creatures the aquarists develop new perspectives of their own Being an actress to me means you get to wrestle penguins, but in a nice way you get stung by jellyfish I don't mean it. It's just a defense mechanism. You actually find a respect for these animals and you You fight you you get challenges on the way, which is actually great for you as an aquarist There's so many things that can go wrong in the day So a sense of humor is definitely going to save a lot of situations where you'd rather probably cry so Laughing is a much better habit than crying at the stage of the war Also the fish make you laugh, so you know And who else can say they have fish that spits on them in the morning The charismatic cowfish have learned that mornings are for breakfast They're impatient little creatures and aren't afraid to let Michelle know when it's time to eat The cowfish have got a very funny little mouth They almost have like a cookie cutter way of eating so they cut their food and suck and blow at the same time So they're quite messy eaters everything that they do tends to splatter all over the countryside, so There's always a cloud of food around them Once they get too big for the display. We do release them again, which is quite nice in fact almost all our Our warm fish go back to Durban and can get set free in the ocean again In the harbor waters outside the seals are also on the hunt for food Vince is still checking the jetties making sure none of the seals are getting themselves in any trouble So there's Bertie's landing. Yeah, we've got a little second year old seal. I think he was born last year Very inquisitive looker is looking at us with a smile the funny little face, but he doesn't know really know what we are I think Giving a little grimace there lovely He's looking good. I think he's fat enough to survive Let's wish him luck The many fishing vessels that use the harbor provide a small service for resident seals They accumulate here when the trawlers come in they seem to know when they're coming in. It's quite fun to see and You can see up top. There's all the ice from the Fish bins and there's lots of little bits of fish in there And then that falls over the side or the birds knock it over all the people push it over They're naturally inquisitive nature combined with the abundance of easy food make the harbor an irresistible hangout for the Cape fur seals And I see quite a few of my old friends. Yeah, they've got scars on from Entanglements that's been taken off. Some of them are quite older. There's some big yellow neck seals. Yeah What I love about them they when they in the water like this. They're so sleek. They like ribbons Lovely and so if you dive with them, they they twist and twirl around there There's just flippers and eyes and it's lovely and their hair gets so wet and smooth and shiny On the land, they're completely different. They're like these Funny I'm going to the dogs or what do you want to call it? The seals can dive to depths of over 200 meters Holding their breath for up to seven minutes These highly sociable mammals have become an icon of the West Coast where their colony numbers can reach well into the thousands People once hunted the seals to the brink of extinction for their beautiful fur Now under protection their numbers have rebounded to over 2 million throughout southern Africa Seal pups are born without blubber and are initially unable to swim It takes about three months for them to grow their fat reserves and make their way into the water Once under the waves their natural ability kicks in and they zoom about with confidence and ease The aquarium extends its resources to these wild animals in the hopes of buffering their contact with ever-expanding human development People have said by a dog in a wetsuit Which is quite a funny thing They're lovely Every creature deserves to live in safety. It's this goal that drives the continued growth of the two oceans aquarium Where animals of all shapes and sizes can raise awareness for their kind I'm excited about predator. It's starting to look really good. Have you got an update on the timeline there? Yeah The rocker contract is doing very well and he's actually managed to pull his time for it quite a bit We we pushed him from 30 days to 20 days and now We work very well with him and he knows he He always pull pulls it out of the bag, you know, they've been working seven days a week Ten to twelve hour days just to try and bring forward the timeline as much as possible to help us out It's great to see the rocket take shape like so quickly You know You go from one day where it's just the PVC pipes and a little bit of mesh and and then the next day there's some Rockwork, you actually can't keep up with the progress. It's gonna be amazing Great about this rock work is that we've got so much pipe work on the inside of the rocks and we're putting valves on everything On the inside so that at the later stage if we ever have problems and we want to change something on the filtration We can actually shut the tank or fully Without having issues about having to put stoppers in pipes and all that kind of we've learned so much in 22 years There's a long way to go but bit by bit the likeness of a new underwater world begins to take shape This is the 50 mil pipe that we create is the framework and We use a 15 mil polycop pipe just to fill up all the holes and to make everything strong and then we use a plastic Mesh just to cover the whole structure and that is when we plaster so the cement can stick to the basic frame And the reason why we use plastic is for the seawater. It normally rusts and then just go right away We've used approximately more than 10,000 of cable ties since we started this project So it's not hot hot enough. It just burn a little bit more Just always keep in mind when you do your shaping you can't just put the pipe down straight so we must have some some movement some shapes in your pipe to make it more more natural as The rock work for the predator exhibit grows by the day Krish is doing some growing of his own behind the scenes So this is the jellyfish lab at the two-ocean aquarium and we grow all our jellyfish here One of the reasons we prefer growing animals in the lab versus collecting them in the wild is because animals in the wild tend to have Parasites on them and they either have holes because a turtle bit into them whereas animals go in the lab Are in perfect health and we can exactly know okay, we do them at this state They last for this long. So two months before the time we can start growing new ones to swap them out to have new animals Like a moth to a flame one cannot help but be entranced by these creatures that look like living lanterns The jellyfish life cycle is very similar to something like a butterfly if you want We have the polyp which is similar to the caterpillar We have the strawberry which is similar to the cocoon of the butterfly and then we have the fire deal with the baby jellyfish which are like the butterflies like butterflies the jellies are male and female generally when they flying or swimming around and These jellyfish then release sperm into the water and the females take up that sperm They fertilize themselves and form these little things with the planula They're basically regular tic-tac sweets covered in fuzz and those little tic-tac swim around for 15 to 60 days depending on the kind of jellyfish and they basically find a perfect spot to squat and Any hard surface where they'd be inside of a boat a harbor wall a rock and then once they settle they change into a polyp The temperature increases or decreases they give off other jellies if conditions become really bad as in There's no oxygen in the water or there's no food They can form a scar that can stay dormant for up to 20 years depending on the kind of jellyfish and once food is back In the water the polyp just goes back again and makes more jellyfish Polyps hold the key to immortality since they can clone themselves many times over duplicating their genetic material exactly This means if 99% of a polyps clones die off its genetic attributes will still survive At the moment. I see we have some baby Malaysian jellies we catch them from the little nursery as they float out overnight and Then we move them over to what we call and if fiery or meet the fiery growing table And if fiery are basically baby jellyfish when they're about one day old to about two weeks Until they start looking like something that resembles a jellyfish once they look like a jellyfish we call them metafiery because the little finger protrusions that they have start to fuse and They start looking and resembling jellyfish more Yeah, these are bingo well accomplished jellyfish And they are about three weeks old and they are fusing the little finger protrusions into Looking like small jellyfish, and this is a new species of compass jellyfish. We found in Langebaan We are still trying to see how long they grow and what they require in the dive in order to complete and close the life cycle While working at the two oceans Krish is also completing his master's in marine biology Jellyfish research in South Africa is quite young at about five to six years old When it comes to the husbandry of growing out the animals We are mostly just well worked on the genetics because we needed to determine that the animals on the South African coast is actually very different To all the other jellyfish in the world Through this research we found that we have more than 20 endemic animals that are sky funneled through jellyfish on our coast and we have More than 280 what we call hydra zone jellyfish and those are anything from crystal jellyfish to blue bottles That are found on our coast and we still have to comb through that to see which ones actually just found here or found all along the world using his acquired knowledge Krish is hoping to tackle a problem known as jellyfish takeover a Phenomenon where giant swarms of jellies overwhelm previously overfished areas along our coastline Krish hopes to figure out what exactly allows these creatures to so efficiently fill the niche that the absence of fish created one of the Old school or rudimentary methods that we used to use back in the days of jellyfish husbandry was to literally blend two jellyfish together In order to close the life cycle So Japan also is a very big problem with jellyfish and they thought we're gonna get rid of all these jellyfish And we're gonna make robots that float on the top of the ocean with blenders attached to them And they're gonna blend all this jellyfish into thousands of pieces What they did was they just made more polyps for themselves and so their problem actually became worse That's why I like having Mario and Luigi over there because they constantly remind me that you can't look at something from a narrow perspective In things like games, you have to have a broad understanding of what's happening in the game environment without having all the information or all the weapons You won't be able to complete the boss because you don't have the tools required All the knowledge required in order to execute and win the battle that lays ahead of you Exactly the same with the jellies we grow in the lab as well Each jellyfish has different environmental parameters and because of that we need to understand which environment the animal grows in and What the animal is dependent on in its environment for us to successfully grow them from a polyp to a jelly and to keep that jelly Alive for as long as possible The waters of the aquarium intricately link its guests to one another Sometimes animals must be kept apart from their fellow inhabitants for the safety of all involved Okay, stepping into quarantine, this is our footbath. It's just a biosecurity measure And here you can see we have a number of different species of fish that we have on holding Some of them are new fish that have come in from the wild. Some of the fish are Donated to us from various facilities That would then have to come into quarantine first as all animals that come through the aquarium have to come to quarantine first Just so that we've checked that they don't have any parasites or anything like that Also to protect all our other animals that have already been quarantined on display downstairs This is Tersia. She's busy cleaning one of the quarantine tanks Some of the fish like to actually hide So now I've also got to clean his little house there. Sorry my boy Make sure it's clean and you can go back into his little home At the back there you'll see a blue liquid in a drum and that is our Copper treatment and that we dose into the tanks for 30 days because that pretty much kills off majority of the protozoa life cycles that we have and That we do as standard preventative measure for a lot of our fish that come in However, there are certain fish that are sensitive to copper and we have alternative treatments for those fish One of the challenges we have in quarantine, which I actually really enjoy is New species of fish coming in from the wild and then with those species of fish We're getting in a lot of new diseases and parasites because it's like the deep sea. It's been Documented it's been explored, but it's one of those things. We're constantly finding new parasites and It's it's really fascinating While the newcomers settle in one of the older inhabitants isn't in her usual high spirits Her lack of energy has caught the attention of aquarist Simon Lady is our large honeycomb moray eel. She's coming out of the tank tomorrow morning. We've just got a few health concerns She is a slightly older eel, but we're just gonna take her out and make sure that she's she's all okay The spider crabs are thousands of kilometers away from home the long journey they underwent to get here already fading into memory I mean these guys look like they've settled in quite nicely. They have been feeding very well So I'm just down here to watch the feeding today and make sure that they are all eating properly We want the animals to be especially after a big move to be settled in as quickly as possible And also as comfortable as possible that goes for all the animals in the aquarium and a nice way of monitoring that is by feeding So animals are feeding generally that means that they're happy in there. They've settled in nicely We alternate their diets today. It looks like they're getting prawn. We do give them squid. We give them cultured heads We give them crushed white muscle generally foods that have a relatively high calcium content It helps with their their growth and their shells their shells are calcium carbonate base Calcium levels are quite important. You'll also notice this exhibit is a lot lighter today While we're feeding and it just helps Myself and the person who's busy doing the feeding Just make sure that each animal is feeding and also gives us an opportunity to give them a good once-over and make sure there's no Nothing wrong. We call it a medical light gets switched on in the mornings and it gets switched on when we do the feeding Other than that, it's off and this exhibits nice and dark for them. I Attempted feeding these spider crabs with a long Plastic tongue and it did not end up so well. They broke my tongue So we went old school and went back to the to the hoop those pincers are even though they look quite small surprisingly strong and Those mouth parts also very I mean they use it to crush up Crustaceans and shell and all bits and pieces. So they've got very very strong mouth parts Bringing such alien creatures up to the surface where they can be admired Serves a vital role in enlightening the public to their existence and the dire need for their conservation. I Sometimes worry about putting this animals in captivity You know, they should be free But what they do for their species, you know, they am basic ambassadors We always say for the species people see them where would they see them alive? It's in the eye you get opportunity to see them swimming all their lively colors You see them eating and and it's a 24-hour intensive caring unit. You know, you can't Leave those animals to their own devices. You've got to look after them. There's got to be things happening Monitoring the aquariums inhabitants requires a deep understanding of how they function considering every little aspect of each individual life I love that these guys are so weird And it looks so different They are here because we're trying to understand the life cycle and they're actually also undergo quite a lot of color changes from blue To red and maroon as well depending on the salinity in the water So we're still trying to understand the reason behind that so they're here to be studied and they're also here to teach the public about Jellyfish themselves because we are a teaching aquarium and we want people to learn more about the ocean These jellies are sociable Often found grouping together in shallow coastal waters with their stubby tendrils pointed up toward the sky They can resemble flowers looming off the seafloor They have the laziest jellyfish we have in the aquarium. They just lay down all day and photosynthesize and When they want to find a better spot to sun tan, that's the only time they ever swim Basically this plant of the year is in the tank because as this jellies photosynthesize We need to make sure that the life parameters are correct in order to help the animals grow If the plant is not doing well, do we know the jellies are not going to do well? So the plant is our litmus paper for this tank, so to say There's still a lot of work being done with these jellies and with the other rhizostomes or blue blubbers on our coast to determine whether or not there are actually endemic to our coast itself or if there are similar species found somewhere else and The reason why most of them are still not well studied is because unlike other jellyfish that have all these tentacles around the bow they have thousands of little mouths on their eight little lips or their arms and Generally, if you're a jelly geneticist You would take a piece of the lip because it grows back quite easily and we would sequence that for DNA but the problem with them and blue rubber jellyfish and other animals in that group is the fact that when we take a piece of their lip to sequence for DNA We actually sequence whatever the jellyfish ate the last time because of universal primers that we use in order to amplify the DNA So if the jellyfish ate a little shrimp beforehand, the shrimp will pop up on the on the chart versus the jellyfish's DNA itself so one of the newer methods they're trying to use is to actually use the gonads of the jellyfish themselves and I've had a friend of mine actually sequence the polyps themselves before they change the jellyfish to successfully determine that there are different species The day is winding down, but before Vince docks the boat. He has some cause for concern All right. Thanks That's a Celtic sweeper. They got a dead seal with a strap on his neck Hi guys, where about did you find it? We actually find a seal there by Key 4 site Just floating there. Yes. Yeah, I haven't I've seen this guy around but I haven't been able to get him, you know Been quite a while. It's when I have a look at him So you see it's got a terrible fishing line stuck there And then the box band, but this guy I've got a feeling That I got him last year this year. He took off the things that we are And this hole and not and not this one and now he's got a gone and put some more entanglements on him And I think that's probably been the end of him, you know Just too much too much suffering too much for his body So there we are Okay, Sherman. Thank you very much the most of time we have a system Vincent with taking off the Steps and that's it. But unfortunately, we can't make it That's what happened. And that's our job to Take them out of the water The harsh consequence of our impacts on these creatures is a sad reality It highlights the need for the education that the aquarium strives to achieve Okay, two more steps Don't fall two more steps two more steps. Wait For you I love it Molly She was the first sunfish that we caught at the aquarium and we were just like two kids and they were like, oh There's a 500 kilogram fish in the water jump in and catch it, but she was so amazing like within two days She was hand-feeding and she was just like this huge gentle giant I'm just totally amazed by your memory because this looks exactly like Molly and it's so nice to see I mean, I haven't seen a picture of that was for so long and there she is Chris came by and he was like, please put a jelly on the wall and sunfish eat jellyfish Only you'd have to do this this kind of like sexy scuba diver and I just I just And Lex I mean Lex is totally our mentor Lex was the first Managing director of the business. He taught me a huge amount Yeah he talked he was definitely our mentor and would arrive at the strangest of times when we were doing something wrong and instead of like reprimanding you Make the effort roll up his sleeves and show you how to teach you or laugh at you I had that a lot and that's super special. So it's nice to dedicate it to him. I Literally is 20 years of dreams and reality all wrapped up in one. It's amazing Another day comes to an end, but in the winding corridors of the two oceans aquarium. There are always new beginnings The seahorses are welcoming the latest members to their exhibit Over a hundred newborns known as fry spill out into the tank These babies are less than one centimeter long and are completely independent from the moment they're born Meaning that once he's given birth the father's job is done This generation will be here to see the next phase of the two oceans adventure Be it the construction of a major exhibit or the start of a tiny new life. The aquarium is a dynamic community Constantly changing Constantly growing breaking boundaries and opening our eyes to unknown and intriguing worlds